Salman Shaheen, a member of Left Unity's national co-ordinating group, replies to Left Foot Forward editor James Bloodworth, who wrote a piece for the Guardian yesterday in which he argued that the left should stick with the Labour Party.
Salman Shaheen, a member of Left Unity’s national co-ordinating group, replies to Left Foot Forward editor James Bloodworth, who wrote a piece for the Guardian yesterday in which he argued that the left should stick with the Labour Party.
Long before I’d ever been on an anti-war march or read any Marx, the first spark of left-wing thought emerged in my brain as I was growing up listening to The Levellers.
It was this Brighton-based folk-punk outfit that provided the voice of a generation opposed to repressive Tory rule, sticking two fingers up to the state and fighting back against the injustices of the Criminal Justice Act.
Backstage and starstruck at a Levellers gig few years ago, I caught up with lead singer Mark Chadwick to find out if he still held firm to all those ardently sung beliefs that had first inspired me. It wasn’t much surprise to hear that even this archetypal old anarchist would vote for anyone just to keep the Tories out.
After all, his was a generation that had lived through the dark ages of the Thatcher years, whose way of life in free parties and protests had come under assault from a Conservative government with diametrically opposed values and a monopoly of violence to enforce them.
Equally, against the climate of austerity, I can understand why James Bloodworth wrote in Comment is Free yesterday that the most urgent task of the left is kicking the Tories out in 2015.
But while I agree that this vicious bunch of out-of-touch toffs waging all out class war on Britain’s most vulnerable people should never be allowed near a red briefcase again, I do not think stopping the Tories should come at any expense. Not if that expense is the left adopting Tory policies.
As I’ve previously argued, New Labour has done far more to entrench a Thatcherite consensus in this country than John Major ever could. By transforming Labour from a party that represented working class people into a party that represented free-market interests, Tony Blair ensured there could be no opposition to the neoliberal policies that spectacularly wrecked the global economy and plunged those Labour was founded to speak up for deeper into poverty.
When Ed Miliband won the Labour leadership with the support of the trade unions, there was a glimmer of hope that we could see the return of a genuine Labour party that could provide genuine opposition to Tory policies. Not only would this be good for the poorest sections of British society, it would be good for democracy. Voters need a choice.
But Miliband abstained on workfare, he committed himself to Tory spending plans, he turned his back on the unions and, most damning of all, he utterly failed to make the argument that it was bankrupt neoliberal economics that ravaged Britain’s economy not welfare spending or state intervention.
Returning Miliband’s party to office in 2015 will, then, only enshrine an austerity consensus.
Would I prefer to see a Labour government rather than a Conservative one? Would it be ever so slightly nicer, ever so slightly kinder, its policies wrapped up in ever so slightly more understanding language than that of the Etonian class warriors? Of course.
But kicking the Tories out will seem a Pyrrhic victory for the left when the Labour government they campaigned for implements its own cuts.
As long as Labour believes that it can take left-wing and working class votes for granted, irrespective of how far to the right it lurches, nothing will change.
This is why I support the new Left Unity movement.
Far from kicking the injustices of the 21st century into the long grass as James argues, it is tackling them head on, because it recognises that the most urgent task of the left is not stopping the Tory party, but stopping Tory policies. To do that we must reinvigorate the left, within and without Labour, not leave it languishing stultified in the middle of the road where it will be run down and crushed.
37 Responses to “As long as Labour believes it can take working class voters for granted, nothing will change”
Stan
I was a Labour activist for more than 25 years. I have done more than my fair share of canvassing, leafleting and standing as a candidate in wards where Labour have no chance of winning.
Why should we be ashamed of the link with the unions when the money Labour gets from the unions is open and above board whereas the biggest scandals surrounding Labour funding have always been from private and corporate donations, the same reasons why the Tories get embarrassed. In case you have forgotten the Labour Party was born out of the trade union movement. If these politicians wish to be in a political party that have no links to the trade union movement then they are free to leave and join either the Tories or Lib-Dems or they could start their own party like they did in 1982 when they all ran away to form the SDP opening the door for Thatcher to win the elections of 83 & 87.
The Tories are unashamedly in hock to big business and people like Lord Ashcroft and Philip Green. They govern in the interests of their paymasters, always have and always will. The only criticism that I have with the union link is that Communist and other extreme left union leaders such as Mick McGahey have always infiltrated the Labour party via the affiliation process and these have been the union bosses that have caused Labour the most problems over the years.
How dare you accuse people like me of being self indulgent. I have every right to criticise the current leadership and their policies. They have neutered the membership, they have dragged the party further to the right than it has ever been in all its history and now the people at the top are as out of touch with people like me as the Tories are. I see no reason to vote Labour at the next election. I want to vote for a party I believe in, I do not want to vote for a least worst option.
My whole political life has been based on fighting for things I believe in and for a quarter of a century the labour party represented that. My principles and beliefs have not changed, it is the Labour party that has changed and until it moves away from being a semi skimmed Tory party it will not be getting my help or my vote again.
Stan
I was a Labour activist for more than 25 years. I have done more than my fair share of canvassing, leafleting and standing as a candidate in wards where Labour have no chance of winning.
Why should we be ashamed of the link with the unions when the money Labour gets from the unions is open and above board whereas the biggest scandals surrounding Labour funding have always been from private and corporate donations, the same reasons why the Tories get embarrassed. In case you have forgotten the Labour Party was born out of the trade union movement. If these politicians wish to be in a political party that have no links to the trade union movement then they are free to leave and join either the Tories or Lib-Dems or they could start their own party like they did in 1982 when they all ran away to form the SDP opening the door for Thatcher to win the elections of 83 & 87.
The Tories are unashamedly in hock to big business and people like Lord Ashcroft and Philip Green. They govern in the interests of their paymasters, always have and always will. The only criticism that I have with the union link is that Communist and other extreme left union leaders such as Mick McGahey have always infiltrated the Labour party via the affiliation process and these have been the union bosses that have caused Labour the most problems over the years.
How dare you accuse people like me of being self indulgent. I have every right to criticise the current leadership and their policies. They have neutered the membership, they have dragged the party further to the right than it has ever been in all its history and now the people at the top are as out of touch with people like me as the Tories are. I see no reason to vote Labour at the next election. I want to vote for a party I believe in, I do not want to vote for a least worst option.
My whole political life has been based on fighting for things I believe in and for a quarter of a century the labour party represented that. My principles and beliefs have not changed, it is the Labour party that has changed and until it moves away from being a semi skimmed Tory party it will not be getting my help or my vote again.
Lambeth Walker
Labour in power in Lambeth since 2006 has had mixed results in improving schools- the best of which have reluctantly became academies because central Labour govt funding favoured that.
A popular campaign recently stopped Labour selling off its Brixton Leisure Centre.
Now Labour must justify why it considers its local administration so under attack that it calls on UKG to criminalise all forms of building occupations so as to avoid consideration of human rights act protection that civil law procedures necessitate.
The Equalities Act provided limited prospective changes in pension rights for same sex long-term relationships.
Labour passed up the chance when it had a sufficient majority to really change the house of lords not just getting rid of a minority of unelected members.
mactheanti
Who said we are ashamed? That’s the right wing press talking. I am not ashamed, I want the unions, without them working people would not have the rights we have today. However, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t modernise, we have to, it’s imperative if the unions and Labour are to survive. Everything in life progresses and changes, don’t be afraid of progress. There’s no need to be aggressive, I haven’t forgotten union and Labour history, I have been defending it vehemently against the Tories all my life and will go on defending it.
mactheanti
Labour has done more than a good few things, here are a few 1) National minimum wage 2) Sure Start 3) Nursery place for every 4 year old 4) Over 100 brand new hospitals 5) building schools for the future 6) hundreds of thousands more nurses, doctors, teachers, police. 7) pensioners credit 8) working families credit.
It just goes on and on, so lets not keep doing Labour’s 13 years in power down and look at each and everyone of those things I have mentioned, the Tories are taking them all away. Have you forgotten the parlous state the NHS was in in 1997 when Labour came to power? They saved it from privatisation (I worked in the NHS at the sharp end for over 30 years) If the Tories are not stopped they will privatise the NHS, Labour is the only party who can stop them and don’t forget Labour has promised to repeal the Health & Social Care Act of 2012 as far as they can without triggering another top down reorganisation and they are the only party positioned to stop the Tories, if we have another five years of this heinous government we will lose the NHS for good. Do you want to be a part of that? Because I sure as hell don’t.
Andy Burnham has some absolutely brilliant ideas for the future of the NHS.